How can I knock down mic pops?

[nikldan]

Hi all and thanks for being here!

I have looked around quite a bit and also performed numerous trial and error experiments with out any luck (I'm fairly proficient with editing apps).

As mentioned in the subject line, I am attempting to remove some mic pops from a voice recording. I tried to use the draw tool to do so but it was time consuming and not very effective.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

[kozikowski]

You can start with the High Pass Filter set for 80 Hz, 100 Hz, or 120 Hz. Those are the three common frequencies built into audio mixers and some microphone electronics to help with plosives.

There may be another tool. I need to look.

Koz

[kozikowski]

You maybe able to use the tool that vinyl recordings use to reduce cat-hair-on-the-record pops.

http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Click ... it_work.3F
http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Click_Removal

There is yet a third possibility, but I need to wait for the sun to come up in the UK.

Koz

[nikldan]

Thanks for the responses. Tried High Pass Filter with suggested Hz settings to no effect and click remove as well. Waiting for sun to come up in UK...

[kozikowski]

<<Tried High Pass Filter with suggested Hz settings to no effect >>>

Oh, it should have had some affect. Maybe not what you wanted. You can't be listening on computer speakers to hear this effect. Good headphones or a large sound system.

It occurs to me you may not have what you said. Normal plosives produce a thud or low thump like a truck driving by or maybe somebody beating a thick carpet on a clothesline. If the low pass filter didn't help at all, then your performance overloaded the capture channel. In that case, you have no show without hand surgery. There is no good recovery for channel overload.

When you view the blue waves on the timeline, are the damaged portions very much higher than everything else?

Koz

[nikldan]

The plosive I am attempting to get rid of is more of a percussion from the voice actor getting too close to the mic. Will give the Low Pass Filter a shot. Thanks again.

[kozikowski]

It's not going to work if the sound is clearly audible as a percussion sound. That only works for muffled rumbles. You're may be in the camp of people who want to take a mixed musical performance apart into individual instruments. You can't separate the violins from everything else in an orchestra and you can't separate the drums -- or performances that sound like drums.

Can you make a short, good quality MP3 of the damage and post it here?

Koz

[nikldan]

It's not going to work if the sound is clearly audible as a percussion sound. That only works for muffled rumbles. You're may be in the camp of people who want to take a mixed musical performance apart into individual instruments. You can't separate the violins from everything else in an orchestra and you can't separate the drums -- or performances that sound like drums.

Can you make a short, good quality MP3 of the damage and post it here?

Koz

Based on what you said, I am now 100% sure that I am not going to be able to fix this as the plosive is the voice itself. Careful mic placement from now on. Thanks much.

[kozikowski]

<<<Careful mic placement from now on. Thanks much.>>>

There are some notes about that.

If you have the chance, a mechanical pop and blast filter is a really good idea. That's the round thing.

http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/wynonna2.jpg

Directional microphones, cardioid, supercardioid, are much more subject to this popping thing than non-directional ones. It's part of the proximity effect.

Nobody in Hollywood ever performs a voice recording without a 100 Hz high pass filter either in the sound mixer, or as a separate device.

http://store.shure.com/store/shure/en_U ... .104210700

The object is to do this before the microphone electronic channel. Once you overload and get cracking or crackling, that's the end of the show.

Koz